A wide variety of snow plows for pickup trucks and other utility vehicles are available and in use. These include straight bladed plows of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,026, and center-hinged, V-plows of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,448 and 4,658,519. Other straight bladed plows have been devised with one or both ends being slidably extendable as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,218,512; U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,064; and Swedish 323,974. Yet other plows have included straight blades with pivotable, non-extendable ends as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,825 and 3,477,151. At least one plow is shown in EPO 140,139 having permanently forwardly angled plow ends, which forwardly angled plow ends include slidable extensions wherein the entire plow swings from side to side so as to angle the entire plow left or right.
While each of the above types of prior known plows is useful in one or more situations, the overall flexibility for use of these plows has been limited. For example, for pickup truck mounted snow plows which must be transported from one snow clearing site to another, it is necessary that the plow be short enough to allow transport on public highways which have limited lane width. However, when actually engaged in plowing, it is very helpful to have a greater length for the plow so that larger areas of the parking lot or other site can be cleared of snow more quickly. Yet another problem encountered is when large amounts of snow must be pushed or carried with the plow from one area of a clearing site to another such as the side of a parking lot. Many of the above mentioned plows allow snow or other material being cleared to slip off the ends of the plow thereby requiring additional time and work to completely clear the site.
Existing, prior known plows have, therefore, failed to provide a plow with sufficient flexibility to handle the varying needs encountered in plowing using pickup trucks or other vehicles, especially when such vehicles must be driven on public highways. Such needs include a short enough plow length to allow transportation on public highways, a long enough length for fast, efficient clearing of a job site, and the carrying or pushing of snow from one area to another without allowing snow or other material to slip off the plow ends. In addition, plows should be as light in weight as possible while sufficiently strong to withstand the various forces imposed thereon during plowing of snow and other materials, should allow for proper visibility during use as well as when moved to a non-use position on the vehicle, and should allow ease in repair or replacement of those parts subject to high wear during plowing use. All of these results should be accomplished while minimizing the size and space required for the plow in each of its arrangements.